Elements
by dasserk
Summary: A collection of drabbles about Toni Stark's childhood; wild years; 3 months in Afghanistan; and all the little bits of life that slip between chapters of 'Alloy' without proper recognition. I'd highly recommend reading Alloy along with this.
1. Yinsen

**So, this is Elements. It's a collection of the, for lack of a better word, _elements_ that built up and burned down everything that embodies Toni Stark.**

**The first 'element' is a closer look at Toni's time in Afghanistan. I could go further, and I might, because she was there for three months, but after creating the reactor, Toni's mind is driven by the single thought of escape, and it doesn't seem very interesting to write. **

**But _before_ that, the moment in which Toni was still searching for a way out of that desolate cave - as you can infer, it was a pivotal point in history for Toni. I think it deserves some recognition.**

**So, here's an excerpt from Chapter 1 of Alloy, _Yinsen_, which leads into some more Toni whump.**

* * *

_"I've seen many wounds like that in my village," the self-proclaimed doctor continued, with an edge to his voice that told Toni he was serious despite his light-hearted tone. "We call them the walking dead because it takes about a week for the barbs to reach the vital organs."_

_Toni clenched her jaw. She wasn't ready to die in a week. She gripped at the car battery, and glanced down at the painful contraption in her chest. "What does this do?" she asked him quietly._

_"It's an electromagnet, hooked up to your car battery. It keeps the shrapnel from entering your heart." Toni exhaled, almost laughing, and an incredulous smile broke out on her grim face._

_The man raised an eyebrow at her strange reaction, and she shook her head, looking down. "The ingenuity of it," she explained, "in a fucking cave with terrorists." Her little smile twisted bitterly, and she glared at the ground._

. . .

_"He says they have everything you need to build the Jericho missile." The doctor told her, and Toni didn't answer. "He wants you to make a list of materials, to start working immediately, and when you're done, he will set you free."_

She quickly realized that she'd need more than a week to do this, whatever 'this' was (she wasn't building a missile, no point in that). Toni leaned against the rock wall, eyeing the missile parts that had been dumped on the floor an hour ago.

"You'll need to start working soon," the doctor commented from where he was stoking their fire. His name was Yinsen. He'd told her earlier, and for once, Toni decided she'd make an effort to remember that name. "Our friends don't tolerate procrastination."

Sucking in a deep breath, Toni's chest convulsed. Ah, right. She couldn't sigh in self-pity anymore. Her ribs had been carved up a bit in the surgery that jammed a hunk of metal into her chest cavity. She ran her finger along the gauze-concealed wiring, and followed them to the heavy battery she'd set on the ground. "Well, I can't really work one-handed," she spat out. "And it's even harder to work for terrorists when you'll be dead in a week."

Yinsen's look told her how much he disapproved of compliance. Toni rolled her eyes. "Then this is a very important week for you, Stark."

"I can't do anything like _this_, Yinsen." Toni argued. Her fingers squeezed around the battery painfully. "And why _should_ I anyway?" Her resolve was disintegrating faster than Toni could comprehend. "I'm just going to die, none of this matters," her eyes were burning. She almost told herself not to cry, not to show weakness but... it didn't matter, nothing did.

Tears splashed onto her shirt carelessly, for the first time in eight years. She hadn't cried openly since Howard and Maria's funerals.

She almost expected Yinsen to come over to her, to console her. Toni braced herself to snap at his sympathy, but it never came.

"Then give up." His voice was icy. Toni's head shot up in shock. He gave her a harsh look. "Give up, and prove that you're as pitiful as everyone thinks you are. Is this how the great Toni Stark wants to die? Weak, broken, in an Afghan cave?" he demanded. Jumping to his feet with more energy than Toni thought possible, he pointed at her fiercely. "I can believe it."

Toni opened her mouth to protest angrily. He spoke before she could get a word out."You think differently? _Prove it, Stark_."

Her hands curled into fists. "I'm not _weak_," she hissed. "I just need more _time_, I can't - "

"Then make more time!" Yinsen implored, gazing directly into her dark eyes.

Toni stared, lost. "Make more time?" Her eyes drifted to her own chest, the electromagnet that was slowing the shrapnel in her heart. The car battery needed to power the magnet was restrictive, bulky, and not powerful enough.

New task: make a new power source that's smaller, portable, and most importantly, _stronger_. The solution materialized before her mind like it always did. It was easier than the usual task, because Toni already knew how to make a stronger power source. It just needed to be modified to be portable, and created with the scarce materials available.

_Alright, not as easy as usual_, Toni conceded, running through the materials she could substitute or change. But not impossible.

"Okay," Toni said shakily. "I can do that."

Filled to brim with nervous energy, Toni hovered over Yinsen. "Careful!" she couldn't help but remind him as he carried the crucible back to the workstation.

"I am," Yinsen assured her smoothly, as if he'd done this a thousand times. He had never done it before though, so his easy tone was actually deceptive, which made Toni even more nervous in turn.

"We've only got one shot at this," she couldn't resist adding, though it was completely unnecessary. She'd given him an intense crash course on arc reactor energy, and Yinsen knew the risks.

Not looking away from the precise amount of palladium he was pouring into a ring, Yinsen smiled gently for her. "Relax, Stark. I have steady hands. Your life attests to that."

"Yeah," Toni said distractedly, staring at the cooling ring of metal. "And I suppose my prolonged existence will prove that again, 'cause this won't work if we get the palladium wrong."

"Has anyone ever told you how cynical you are?" Yinsen asked pleasantly.

Toni thought of Rhodey. And Pepper. And Happy. "'_The day wouldn't be complete without a healthy dose of Toni angst._'" she quoted sardonically.

Yinsen noticed. He set down the empty crucible, and Toni settled herself onto the barstool. "Who said that?" he asked curiously.

Plucking a pair of tweezers from a cup of grimy tools, Toni smiled sadly. "Jim Rhodes. He's... he's my best friend." she refused to refer to him in the past tense, because that would imply she wasn't going to see him again.

She had to see him again. And Pepper. And Happy. Damn it, she _had_ to make it back to them.

They both held their breath as Toni reached out with the tweezers. Slowly, she transferred the paper-thin ring to the modified reactor shell. Simultaneously, the two of them sighed when it slipped into place seamlessly. Yinsen's hands settled on her shoulders, and he patted her in congratulations.

They easily put together its last components, and moments later, the reactor illuminated the room with a lively blue glow. Toni stared at her creation with wide eyes, unable to look away even as her eyes teared up. Yinsen's arm around her shoulders tightened in a half-hug. She could feel his ribcage, and her chest was throbbing uncomfortably from the electromagnet, but she hugged him back all the same.

"Quite ingenious, for a battered young woman in a cave with terrorists," Yinsen muttered proudly, before releasing her.

Allowing her lips to curve into a smile, Toni sighed and settled into a decrepit dentist's chair (or at least it looked like one, she wasn't too sure). "Come on, Doc. I think I'm due for an upgrade."

* * *

**I think the next short story will be a multi-chapter story about Toni's time at MIT. Or, more specifically, the day leading up to her parents' deaths. I've decided to add a bunch of cameos to the whole event, which are blatantly suspicious and foreboding to the reader (and me) but overlooked by Toni because of the traumatic accident that killed her parents...**

**Unfortunately, I won't be posting anything for the next two weeks, nor will I be able to work on anything. (Such is life)**

**But, please, feel free to give me pointers, insult my work, let out your inner fangirl in a review, etc. I'll respond to questions, too. **


	2. Stuck

**I will admit it, I got the idea from an episode of Ultimate Spider-Man in which Spidey and Hawkeye get glued together because of Peter's malfunctioning web shooters. I thought Toni would be a good Hawkeye substitute. And hey, what do you know, there's a few guest appearances in this!**

* * *

**Stuck **

**October 20th 2012 - Queens**

Who knew that a situation could change so radically in the span of 2.15 seconds and a pitiful little _fwip_ from a bite size canister of bio-webbing?

Toni gaped at her left hand as it was rapidly concealed by a malfunctioning can of super-strong cable. It felt kind of like silly string, until it reacted with the air around it and crystalized into a blob of cement around her hand.

"No. No no no no!" She jerked away, knowing it was futile because the cable was designed to solidify on contact with oxygen. _Curse OsCorp and their somewhat-successful products_. She wrenched he hand away again, and Peter squawked in protest.

"Hey hey hey! Calm down, you're going to dislocate my wrist -"

"Calm down?!" Toni screeched. "Your web-shooter just _shat_ all over us! What if I'm glued to you for life? I don't want to be glued to a _nerd_ for life."

"Wha - _you're_ a nerd! Shut up. This is your fault -" he heaved his arm away, and Toni was ruthlessly pulled to the left.

"Your crappy tech, _your fault!_" Toni pulled her hand viciously, and Peter was dragged across his desk.

"Well you wouldn't be stuck to me if you hadn't tried _opening_ it!" He argued, picking at the solid mass of organic fibers with his free hand.

"It was _jammed_, you asked me to help! And clearly it's a defective can. You should've expected that, it's from a defective company," she said disdainfully.

"I am not arguing over OsCorp's ethics right now, Stark! We can get it off, would you stop freaking out?" He seized a pair of pliers, and Toni flinched away from him. "Oi! Stop moving!"

"No, I'm the adult here, I handle the dangerous tools - _give it here,_ Parker."

"What?! In what world are you responsible _or_ an adult?" Peter demanded. "And this is my room, my tools - I know what I'm doing."

Toni waved around their joined hands. "_Clearly_ you don't! Look, if we can just get to my lab, I'll find something more appropriate to cut through this stuff. You _do_ realize that the local authorities came to SI - and not OsCorp - to clean up your spider webs? It'll be easier to find something to disintegrate this stuff at the Tower."

Peter froze, and his eyes grew wide in childlike wonder. "The Tower? _The_ Tower? The _Avengers_ Tower?!"

Toni glared at him as if to say 'What else could I possibly be referring to?'

He stood abruptly, knocking Toni's chair off-balance. She gasped, and careened towards the floor, but he hauled her up by their attached limbs and exclaimed "What are we waiting for?!"

"Uh, small problem, Petey," she interrupted him. "We're in Queens, the Tower's in Manhattan, and I'm too famous not to be recognized in New York City. Don't want to cramp you style or anything, but -"

"It'll raise questions," Peter finished, realization battling back his excitement. "And then there really won't be much of a point to the whole secret identity thing if anyone notices that this stuff is the same stuff Spider-Man uses..."

Toni gave him an apologetic look.

He perked up for a moment. "I can ask Gwen," he suggested. "Can't she go over to the Tower and figure out something for this?"

Toni made a face. "She's an employee of OsCorp. A well-known, teenage employee of OsCorp that was involved with reversing the effects of Connors's freaky lizard serum." She pointed out. "My employees will recognize her, it's a no-go."

He let out a cry of dismay and plopped onto the carpeted floor of his bedroom. Toni flopped after him. He rubbed his head sheepishly as she shot him an irritated look. "Whoops. Still getting used to the webbing-handcuffs thing."

Toni huffed, and straightened up into a more dignified position. "Well, I'm hoping we won't have to get used to it. We just need to be discreet, y'know? Blend in, it's easy to get lost in New York City, right?"

"Okay, this _isn't_ what I meant when I said 'lost in New York City,' Parker!" Toni snapped. "I can't believe you don't have a decent smart phone." Toni had broken her phone yesterday while working on the Mark 46, otherwise she'd have figured this out without Peter - a native New Yorker - attempting to use a _map_. How archaic.

"Don't you swing through this place every other night?" Toni complained.

Peter squinted at the high-rises. "It looks a lot different from up there," he muttered. "We're not lost, I just want to find to quickest route to the Tower."

"It'd be way easier if we had GoogleMaps or something."

"I dropped my phone in the sewer when I was following Connors!" He protested. "And besides, I can still call and receive messages, I don't need a new one."

Toni snorted. "Yeah, same way you don't need a new _computer_, or better _web shooters,_ or a new _camera_..."

Peter scowled. "Not everyone's a billionaire, _Stark_."

She merely rolled her eyes. "And not everyone's friends with a billionaire, but you _are_, Parker. Just say the word and I'll replace everything."

He was already shaking his head, like Toni knew he would. "I can't accept handouts, Toni. I have a job, I'll pay for my own stuff."

Damn it, he was too fucking noble. "Well, your job kind of depends on your ability to take pictures. And your camera was smushed by a giant lizard. So yes, I'm buying you a camera at the very least."

Again, he was already trying to decline. "No, Toni, all of this is my responsibility, not yours -"

Smack!

"Ow! What the frick was that for?" He rubbed his face indignantly, and Toni was mostly amused that she's managed to slap him (lightly, she swore) without setting off his Spidey-Sense.

"For trying to preach that 'With Great Power' spiel again!" Toni yelled. "It's like your damn catchphrase. Would you quit it with the moral code nonsense?"

"It's not nonsense -"

"I know it's not _nonsense_, but it's plain stupid to take on all that responsibility when you don't _have_ to, Peter! Sure, you've decided it's your job to protect people - but you're not alone. _Spider-Man _doesn't have to work alone, and neither do you." Toni cringed internally at her sentimentality. "_Ugh! _Just let me buy you a damn camera after we figure this all out. It's the least I can do."

Peter blinked at her rapidly. Toni was startled to see redness creep onto his cheeks. "O-okay. So." He cleared his throat, and tried to rub at his suspiciously wet eye but used his right hand and ended up smacking himself with the rock-hard blob of bio-cable. "_Ow_. Sorry. Uh - we won't take another cab, the last one was too nosy. How do you feel about the subway?"

Grateful to completely ignore the moment of raw emotions, Toni made a face. "I haven't used the subway since before you were born, Parker."

He raised an eyebrow. "Why would you have to take the subway when you were eight?"

"Seven," she corrected him with a shrug. "I was exploring. Is it still full of weirdos? I sat next to someone decked out in a red and black unitard last time." (Total weirdo. The dude had recognized her too, and directed her back to the Hilton her parents were staying at).

Peter frowned. "Was that a joke about my unitard?" He asked guardedly.

She chuckled. "You've finally admitted that you wear a unitard!" Toni pumped her fist in victory. "And no, it wasn't. He had katanas and shit."

_That was a strange day indeed._

"Okay, I can't make any promises, but it's not _that_ weird. At least not during the middle of the day. Try riding the subway at two in the morning after five hours of stopping convenient store robbers. _That's_ when the weirdos really come out," Peter told her knowledgeably as they headed down the stairs.

Toni didn't answer at first, but snatched a baseball cap off of a distracted man as he left the station. Lucky for her, it seemed pretty normal (no smell or suspicious stains) so she fitted it on her head carefully.

Then she went over what Peter had said, and laughed out loud. "Pete, you're the one that rides the subway as Spider-Man in the dead of night," Toni quipped in a low voice. "I'm pretty sure _you're_ the weirdo."

Toni swiped her credit card and paid for the trip. Peter made a face at her, but she rolled her eyes again. "You didn't bring any money, Parker," she reminded him.

He bristled in discomfort as Toni scanned the map for the right line. "Yeah but still. You shouldn't pay for everything."

It was odd, knowing that this was something that Peter felt so strongly about. Toni couldn't think of many principles that she stuck to so stubbornly, besides her 'I am always right' mantra and her irrevocable belief in the multiverse theory.

"Well, you can pay me back in other ways. I certainly don't need money." She suggested, just as the train pulled into the station. With trepidation, she and Peter stepped onto the train.

Nervously, Toni yanked her baseball cap down farther, and they maneuvered their way onto the carriage. Shit, it was crowded.

Toni didn't like crowds. Nope, not at all. She flinched as strangers breathed on her and bumped into her - nope she was not doing this.

"Hey, St - er - To - _Natasha_, are you okay?" Peter asked her, fumbling over her many names.

Toni cracked a smile. "Not in the slightest," she replied, her voice about two octaves higher. She looked away, not wanting to see the apologetic look Parker was giving her.

Letting her eyes wander, Toni scanned the crowd. A brunette trying to send a text (_seriously?)_, an elderly man talking to a trio of boys that shared his red hair (_where's Meredith?_), a sketchy guy in a brown trench coat and baseball cap (_is he a mutant?_), and a - _wait. _

She squinted. Yep. _Blue_.

On the subway, no one gave a flying fuck if you were blue, a celebrity, or bound by the hand to another person. Toni decided right then and there that she liked this form of transportation.

"_Awesome_," Toni muttered, and started towards him. She forgot about Peter for about three steps, and then the poor kid smacked into a pole.

"Ow! Jeez, T - _Nat_. Would you quit it?"

Toni didn't apologize, but gestured wildly in the blue man's direction. Peter couldn't see the man, but he followed after her anyway with nothing more than an exasperated sigh.

She stopped in front of the man abruptly, with Peter stumbling into her side. Without a word, Toni fished out a small metallic ball and let it fall to the floor noiselessly. Guess now's as good a time as any to see if this thing works, she figured, as the tiny gadget stuck itself to the floor and a red light appeared on its side.

It was basically a rudimentary privacy bubble, and yes, it was inspired by the _Muffliato_ spell from Harry Potter. Within a certain radius, it concealed conversations from eavesdroppers by distorting the sound before it could reach any further than the perimeter.

Feeling confident it worked, Toni simply stared at the blue guy. It took a moment before the man realized he was being watched.

Alarmed, the man's eyes widened. She noted his yellowy eyes, and the thin lines of raised skin visible on his face that made up finely-executed tattoos.

She spoke before he could react. "Those are the coolest tattoos I've ever seen, bro," Toni grinned. "No joke."

He opened his mouth - _whoa he has fangs too! _- and then closed it, unsure of what to say.

The train stopped, and Toni thanked some higher power because most of its occupants got off and were not replaced by more sheep. Toni sighed in relief and sunk into the seat beside the blue guy.

"I'm Toni," she offered her right hand. The man's eyes merely traveled to her left hand, though, where it was trapped with Peter's.

Staunchly, Toni waited. And after a moment the man shook hands with her delicately, using his three-fingers limb.

"_Kurt_," he said quietly, his accent thick.

Toni lit up. "_Deutsch? Ich spreche Deutsch!"_ she exclaimed.

Kurt's tawny eyes brightened considerably. "_Es ist schön zu hören, dass jemand meine Sprache sprechen."_

Peter huffed and plopped down beside Toni. "Um, hi Kurt. I'm Peter and I don't speak German."

"Oh! Apologies, Peter. It is just so nice to hear my native tongue." He grinned at Toni and she thought it looked kind of terrifying, but in an exciting way. "And it is even nicer to meet someone so... friendly."

"I'd use the term '_benevolent goddess_' but 'friendly' works too." Toni raised her chin in pride. Peter snorted.

"Isn't that what the crazy alien said in Stuttgart?" Peter asked suspiciously.

Toni shushed him. "So, Kurt - I'm gonna go ahead and assume you're a mutant, if you don't mind me doing so."

Kurt just nodded, shooting Toni a wary look. She looked at him expectantly.

"Uh..."

"Come on. Now I have to know," she pleaded.

"I... I can _teleport_." His accent was thicker on the last word.

"Anywhere?" Toni inquired immediately.

"As long as I can see where I'm going," he corrected. "But, in essence, yes."

Her jaw dropped. Beside Toni, Peter's jaw had dropped as well. Kurt looked between them nervously.

"Ah...?"

"It's official. Kurt's got me beat." Toni declared, glancing at Peter. "Teleportation trumps everything I've got."

Kurt looked at them curiously. "And what do you have?" He asked Toni astonishment.

"Iron Man," she told him in earnest. Peter made a choking sound.

"I thought we were trying to lay low!" He hissed to her.

"I am. No one can hear us." She indicated the successful sound distorter (the _Muffliato_) at their feet. "I'm Iron Man, as I've just told you. I can do that."

Kurt looked around in amazement. "That is incredible, Toni!"

"Danke," she smirked. "But like I said, _teleportation?_ That's impressive. And impossible for me, despite how much I can do."

Kurt seemed to glow with the praise. "At home, I am known as the Amazing Nightcrawler," he told them proudly.

"_Nightcrawler?_ You badass." Toni was kind of jealous. The press had yet to come up with a substitute for 'Iron Man' that was even remotely acceptable. "Mutants get the best names," she sighed. "Mystique is a bonafide stripper, but besides that - _Magneto, Storm, Beast_; they're all completely reasonable and bad ass. What do I get? Iron Man. The suit is not iron, and I'm not a man!"

She ranted purposefully. Kurt and Peter were laughing freely now, and Toni grinned at the knowledge she had diffused all the tension.

"She's right," Peter informed Kurt. "Your mutation is groundbreaking."

Kurt smiled, but it seemed a little less sincere. "Yes, well, I'm not sure it's worth all the... _other_ mutations."

Thinking of Bruce and his green counterpart, Toni was about to disagree, but Peter beat her to it. "Loads of people think that the Thing's a freak, that the Hulk's a monster. You can't let that stop you." Toni got the feeling Peter was talking about himself just as much as he was talking about all the other freaks and monsters that saved lives.

Toni let Peter do his thing, basically acting as a motivational speaker. Seriously, Toni felt like she could run the New York Marathon if Peter was around to inspire her.

Kurt took it to heart, though. "You are quite wise for someone so young, Peter," he said kindly. Kurt glanced at their joined hands once more. "Pardon me, but... What happened?" He inquired politely.

"An unfortunate mishap with a very strong substance," Toni shrugged. "We're headed to the Tower to fix it."

Kurt's yellow eyes widened with the same childlike wonder that Peter's had at the mention of the Tower. She never realized the Avengers were so popular. Well, she did, but she didn't know that other people with unusual powers looked up to the team so much... _Hm. That's a topic with a lot of potential. Especially since the Tower's become a symbol for the team. _

"The Avengers Tower? Really?"

Toni nodded. "It's still under construction from the Chitauri, but it's operational, and the R & D department should have what I need."

Kurt nodded, still incredulous at the turn of events. Toni looked up, and realized their stop was next. She peered over Kurt thoughtfully.

"Kurt," she said pensively, "I'm sorry we don't have any time right now, but I'd love to talk with you again." Toni searched her other pocket and produced a translucent business card.

Kurt took it in astonishment. "I would like that too, Toni. It has been wonderful to meet you." He looked at Peter. "And you as well, Peter."

Toni grinned, and rose just as the train grounded to a halt. "Come along, my wise little Padawan. I think they reinstalled the bandsaw in my workshop."

"Why aren't I a Jedi?" Peter's eyebrows rose in concern. "I'm _definitely_ a Jedi."

Toni looked at him inquisitively, "Because you'll be a Jedi when you grow up," she explained offhandedly, wondering why he was so caught up with the Star Wars terminology.

Peter opened his mouth to argue this point, and then it clicked. "I - wait. _Bandsaw? _What bandsaw?"

* * *

**Thought y'all would enjoy some cameos. It's really fun to write them in. **


	3. Namesake - I

**This story takes place during the day leading up to Howard and Maria Stark's death. **

* * *

_Namesake - I _

Natasha stared at her phone, a sneer developing on her face. Mom and Dad were driving down to see her.

_I'm surprised they remembered today's the parent orientation_, Natasha scathed, rolling her eyes at Dad's superficial message.

He still referred to her as '_Nattie_' and Natasha swore to god that if he called her that in public, she'd legally change her name. She wondered what name would suit her? Legally changing her name would be laborious - it needed to be a good one.

She swept out of her dorm, ignoring her 'roommate' because seriously - this chick was not only boring, but really stupid. She hoped that Miranda was the exception, rather than the norm... then again, stupid people threw decent parties. Natasha wouldn't mind a few parties. She'd been to a few, but it was hard to get away with anything with Happy around. (Lucky for her, Happy wouldn't be around at MIT to mother her).

Deciding to take a tour of the grounds (though she'd already been drilled on escape routes and safe areas, courtesy of her patronizing body guard), Natasha stepped outside the freshmen building.

It was August, at midday, and ridiculously warm for Massachusetts. Everyone was outside. Around the freshmen dormitories, parents were bustling around, befriending fellow parents and nagging their kids. There was a lightness to every conversation she passed, even the ones with teary-eyed mothers or fathers intimidating boys with wandering eyes.

She heard the words "I'm so proud of you" more times than she could count. Ugh, it was making her nauseous.

Natasha felt wholly out of place, and grit her teeth instead of acknowledging the reason behind it. Ducking her head down, she escaped the throngs of gooey family time as swiftly as possible.

She wasn't _upset_. She wasn't envious of those kids, because she didn't need her Dad to embarrass her with a 'safe sex' speech, or her Mom to clutch at her shoulder and remind her that a home-cooked meal was just a few hours away. Hell, her parents wouldn't give that to her _anyway_.

So why did she want it so _badly?_

Oh god, she could feel her eyes burning. _It must be allergy season_, Natasha thought, hurriedly swiping away any incriminating evidence as her pace quickened even more to avoid - _WHAM._

She rammed into a metal pole, and bounced off of it like the fifteen-year-old milksop she was. Natasha let out a gasp of surprised pain, and stumbled. She was careening towards the ground, and braced for impact - but then a hand snatched her by the shoulder, and hauled her back to her feet before Natasha knew what had happened

The hand was connected to a man that was - honest to God - _twice_ her size. A foot taller than her measly 5'2" stature, and muscle that added about 170 pounds of pure intimidation. She wasn't sure if she was ogling him or staring up at him in utter fear. (Probably both).

"Thanks," Natasha said, rubbing her arm. She must've been walking faster than she thought, because her arm really _did_ feel as though it had been hit by a metal pillar, though now she realized it was only this buff dude's buff body. The man assessed her in silence with green eyes, and then nodded, releasing her abruptly. He muttered a gravelly response, but Natasha didn't catch it. She wasn't even sure it was English.

Natasha turned away just as the grad student did. She kept walking, but wasn't so careless with her direction anymore. Her arm was throbbing a little too uncomfortably for Natasha to forget about it.

A glance at her watch told her that her parents wouldn't be coming for another two hours.

_Great, I've got three hours to kill_, Toni smirked. She remembered that her body guard had warned her to stay away from certain people or events... and if there was anything that Happy had warned her about, it was frat boys.

Just across the lawn, she spotted five boys sporting similar Greek life shirts. _Perfect_.

* * *

**Part II won't be posted directly after this, sorry!**


	4. Text

Elements #4 – Text

* * *

_Between: __**Padawan **__and Toni Stark_

**i told you not to buy me a camera.**

obviously you didn't open it yet

didya open it?

**wtf an iron man iron?**

ikr? it's great!

**it's called narcissism**

i have high self esteem

**I repeat, narcissism**

oh come on u know its awesome

**u need a better excuse than that. y would u give me an iron?**

it's so u remember me

**while im ironing?**

every time you need to show some class.

**since when do you have class?**

im rich, i have class

**you're a snob, you mean**

i have class

**no you don't**

yes i do!

**classy people don't have irons with their faces on it**

ur just jealous

**of an iron man iron?**

well i don't see any spidey home appliances on the market

**i don't want one**

then send back the iron

**no**

what?

**i can't **

why?

**aunt may likes it**

liar

**no srsly**

im calling bs

**no**

uh huh

**NO**

keep telling urself that

but u know it's cool.

i mean think about it.

i have fans that created an iron in my likeness.

how many people can say THAT?

(i know u can't)

**ok fine it's awesome stfu already!**

* * *

The Iron Man Iron exists, if you were wondering.


	5. Hawkeye

**Hawkeye**

* * *

Monaco, March 2012

They arrived in Monaco a day early. The last time she'd been early for something was when she was born. And even then, she'd given her mother a hard time during birth (according to her old butler, at least).

Not only was Toni early, but Clyde had planned everything out already. So she had nothing to do but kill time. Which would be fine - in fact, Toni was happy to go off and explore the city - except that Clyde was with her.

And now she had a babysitter. He had orchestrated her driver's disappearance and the valet's inability to get her a damn car. She was on total lockdown, stuck at the Raddisson.

With Clyde, the tasty PA. She was tempted to go swimming, just to see if she could get him to take off his shirt.

But, with Toni's luck, it was highly improbable. Plus, she fucking hated water.

So she flopped onto the cushioned lounge chair on the patio, and huffed in frustration. She hadn't brought anything to do, and she was not about to surf the web for the heck of it.

"Clyde, you sure you don't want to go out? It's a beautiful evening."

He didn't look up from the Starkpad he was working from. "You have a brunch to go to tomorrow."

She scowled, and prepared to explain that she could still make it to brunch if she went out bar hopping, but then a sharp pain stifled her response. Toni snapped her jaw shut, and from the corner of her eye she saw Clyde look up.

Rubbing at her neck calmly, Toni sighed as the pain disappeared as quickly as it came. She supposed it would be harder to hide the effects of palladium poisoning if she poisoned her blood further. No alcohol for Toni.

Suddenly, Toni wasn't in the mood for much of anything. I'm going to die, she told herself morosely. Stop trying to expedite the process.

She could stop drinking, right? It wasn't that hard. Yes. For the rest of Toni Stark's brief life, however insignificant a blip it was in time, she would not drink. Easy.

But... she liked drinks. What if someone came up with the perfect Mojito and asked her to test it? What if she was invited to a private tour of the Bacardi factory?

Okay, there are some exceptions. But today, and probably tomorrow at brunch, I'm not going to drink.

Good. Toni sighed, and settled her gaze on the city of Monte Carlo. But now she really wanted a drink, because she was dwelling on the fact that her life was some trivial little grain of sand in the grand scheme of the universe.

"I spy something green," Toni spoke abruptly. She craned her neck to look back at Clyde for his reaction.

He simply looked at her, scanned the view from the patio, and said, "Speed boat, the _Vert de Mer_."

Toni whipped her head back to the boat she'd been staring at in the bay. "Nope, try again," she lied.

Clyde turned to stare at Toni. "It was the boat," he said confidently.

Shit. "Lucky guess," Toni said, disgruntled. She let her eyes flicker around the city again. "I spy something small and red."

Again, Clyde obliged without a hint of protest. "Billboard blonde's ring," he replied in a heartbeat.

Toni's eyebrows furrowed in puzzlement. "I spy a white sail," she countered. He couldn't be that good, all the sails were white -

"The yacht, _Fantôme Sur L'eau_."

Okay, she'd already known there was something serious funky about Bates, but seriously? She didn't realize that Master of I Spy was a thing.

"Bates, what's your deal?" She couldn't take it anymore.

"What do you mean?" He asked coolly.

Too damn cool, he was a cucumber. _That was really weird to say, even in my head, Toni noted immediately_. She shoved the thoughts aside. "I mean you're definitely in the wrong business, Bates. How's your eyesight? You've got the eyesight of a - I don't know, a bird of prey. Or a Mantis shrimp."

"20/20," he answered smoothly, raising an eyebrow.

"So's mine, but I can't pick out the ruby ring of a billboard model from this distance for a game of I Spy," Toni frowned.

Clyde leaned back, staring at Toni with unreadable eyes. "I like playing I Spy," he fibbed. It didn't sound like a lie, but Toni knew it had to be one.

There was absolutely no indication that Clyde had done anything suspicious at all. Obviously, this meant that he was a liar and a fake and probably an assassin that would eventually kill her. Toni predicted it would be by sniper rifle.

"How's your aim?" She asked, interestedly.

Clyde hesitated, before looking at Toni straight in the eye and saying, "I never miss."

She considered this carefully. "What's the longest shot you've ever made?"

"About 2000 meters," Clyde said frankly. Toni's eyes narrowed. She had a feeling that was an understatement, but she let it slide.

"What's the longest shot you've ever made with a marshmallow?"

Clyde had opened his mouth to answer, but stopped himself, and chuckled. "Never tried it."

"Huh," Toni said haughtily. "Technically, I'm the better shot then, in this case."

She stared at him, challengingly. Clyde stared right back.

"Are you—?"

"Yes."

"You're on."


	6. Shawarma

**Shawarma**

* * *

It was just an hour after the battle. Loki was in SHIELD custody. Selvig was preparing the tesseract-portal-device-thing that would send the Asgardians back. And Toni wanted shawarma.

They were street-level, watching the quinjet sputter to life and take off with the Asgardian. Toni glanced at the 'team.'

_When did Steve take off the mask? _She wondered, noticing its absence. _When did I start calling him Steve?_

Clint and Natasha were already patched up, and they now both sported clean gauze on various body parts. For all the punches she'd taken in the past two days, Toni was surprisingly blood-free, save for the small cut above her eyebrow. It had already stopped bleeding, though, so she was good.

Thor looked exactly the same; she could see blood stains on his armor, but no visible wounds. Steve had a gnarly burn mark on his uniform, but damn, he healed really quickly. His exposed (_and rock hard_) abs were unmarred.

And then there was the Hulk, who was standing off to the side, disgruntled but quiet. It was odd for someone so big to be so unobtrusive—she had the feeling that the big guy's appearance would end soon. Toni approached him with a grin.

"Hey big guy!" She exclaimed, promptly ignore the hissed "Toni!" from behind her.

Hulk looked up, and huffed in acknowledgement. "Stark."

Her grin widened. How many people could say that the Hulk knew their name? "Thanks for the save," Toni said.

Hulk exhaled sharply through his nostrils. "Stark is friend." It sounded like an excuse to explain his good behavior.

Toni's eyebrow quirked at the thought. "And Hulk is a hero." The green-eyed stare that followed that statement was surprised and appreciative—or maybe she was reading into it too much. But either way, Toni was certain that there was intelligence to those eyes.

Hulk huffed again, and Toni interpreted it as a scoff. Behind her, she could hear multiple footsteps growing closer. Hulk glanced beyond Toni, and then looked away, unperturbed.

"You don't believe me? Who took down one of those floaty worm things single-handedly?" Toni argued boldly. She turned to her left, seeing Thor out of the corner of her eye. "Even our resident Thunderer couldn't do that!" She gestured to said Thunderer pointedly.

"Aye, friend... Hulk," Thor said gravely, "Lady Stark's words ring with truth."

"Hulk smashed." The green giant replied simply.

"Hulk smashed in the name of _planetary freedom!_" Toni declared, throwing up her arms. "And now Toni is talking like you," she realized, slowly putting her hands down.

Hulk rumbled slowly, (laughing?), before falling to his knees. She supposed Banner was coming back. The green beast peered at Romanoff tiredly.

"Hulk not sorry," he said solemnly. Romanoff stared straight at him, her poker face as perfect as always.

"I figured that," replied Natasha in a clipped voice. A second passed between them, and then Natasha added "_Don't_ do it again."

Toni was floored. Bonnie was one gutsy chick. Hulk must've thought so too, because the green man was rumbling with growly laughter again.

"Red... not bad," Hulk decided, before pausing, looking out into empty air. "Banner... Coming..."

And the Incredible Hulk flopped right over, causing a tremor strong enough to bring down a few unstable structures on the block.

Toni grinned at Romanoff. "Glad we cleared that up, am I right, _Red?_" Bonnie didn't say anything, but Toni got the feeling the assassin was relieved. "Anyone got some pants for him?" She asked, seeing the Hulk's green muscle shrink away.

Clint held up a set of clothes. "Yep, They got Whitley to bring it. Least that idiot's good for something, I always see him goofing off on the Helicarrier," Clint stared at Banner, before setting off to hand over the clothes.

Toni ran a hand through her hair, and winced at the sharp pain that followed. Ugh, the reactor. At least it was working again, but it was damaged. She turned to assess the street—her armor was strewn across it, decorating the dusty rubble with bits of red and gold. _Thor and Steve really got into it, didn't they?_ The armor was everywhere.

If anyone were to take some of that armor, they could try to recreate the suit, or figure out a weakness, or sabotage it—_Aw man, I have to clean up after myself? I probably have to clean up after everyone else too, and the Chitauri...  
_  
"Can I borrow a phone?" Toni asked, looking to Natasha and Clint hopefully. "I need to start making arrangements for the cleanup," she sighed.

Clint, who was helping Banner to his feet, gave her a quizzical look. "SHIELD can handle most of the cleanup, Toni."

Toni frowned. She hadn't considered SHIELD's involvement. "I'm not letting SHIELD anywhere near my armor or my tower," she protested, glancing up at her building sadly. Only the 'A' in 'Stark' had survived. "Huh," Toni remarked.

Clint beamed. "We should rename it for the team!" He suggested brightly.

Toni smiled. "Why don't we talk about it over food? I'm hungry. I know Bruce is hungry—don't lie, Banner, I know everything—and I told you, there's a shawarma joint like two blocks from here."

Romanoff made to protest, but Clint shrugged and said "I'm in. Reindeer Games wasn't all the great with regular meals," he added, noticing the expression on his partner.

"Fine." Natasha said curtly. Toni gave Clint a grateful look.

"Awesome—Cap, Thor, you guys coming or what?" She turned to them challengingly.

Thor shrugged. "I would be honored to feast with my new mortal friends," he declared. "What say you, Captain?"

Steve looked at them all, before pausing at Toni. She gazed back at him hopefully, telling herself that it wouldn't be right without the Captain joining them.

"Sure," he said finally.

Toni clapped her hands together. "Great! I'll even pick up the check."

* * *

She had grossly underestimated the team's hunger and capacity for food. Bruce was eating like the Hulk, Steve and Thor were preparing to hibernate for winter, and Clint—the only normal male at the table—was blatantly exploiting her offer to pay, but Toni couldn't say she was upset.

Team bonding wasn't that bad after all.

"After I reclaimed my powers and my honor, defeating the Destroyer was an easy task. I then returned to Asgard to face my brother, promising the SHIELD brothers that if I were to return, I would return as an ally." Thor paused to stuff his face with meat, and Clint rubbed his chin pensively.

"So what was up with Loki then?" Clint wondered. "This is way before the Chitauri and the tesseract."

"I think that's when he found out he was adopted," Toni suggested. Thor nodded. "As sad as that is for Loki, he _may_ have overreacted."

Natasha leaned back in her chair solemnly. "If he's not your brother, who is he?"

Thor sighed mournfully. "He is the son of Laufey, leader of the Frost Giants in Jotunheim."

There was a collective exclamation of "_What?!"_ that startled the worker behind the counter sweeping away rubble.

"What's a Frost Giant?" Steve asked.

"He's a Frost Giant? _Really_?" said Bruce, disbelieve evident in his tone.

"Frost Giants?" Clint repeated dubiously. "What, do you also have Fire Elves and Mountain Dwarves?"

Toni ignored all of this, and stared at Thor thoughtfully. "So, technically, Loki _will_ inherit a throne? He was adamant about it being his birthright and all."

The blonde Asgardian shook his head. "By the time I returned to Asgard, Loki had murdered his birth father and then turned the Bifrost on Jotunheim—if left open, the Bifrost would destroy everything in its path," he explained.

Her jaw dropped. According to Selvig and Foster's notes, the Einstein-Rosen Bridge that indicated Thor's Bifrost hadn't been recorded in months; it hadn't been used since Thor went back to Asgard… which meant…

"You destroyed it," Clint realized, just as Toni did. "Did you manage to save Jotunheim?"

Thor nodded solemnly. "Much of that realm has been ravaged, but yes, its people are recovering. Loki fell from the Rainbow Bridge just moments after I struck down the Bifrost."

"Fell?" Bruce asked. "Fell where?"

"Into space," Thor replied mournfully. "I thought he had been lost forever, but..."

"Guess he… landed somewhere," Toni finished the thought. She inhaled deeply, and stretched her back over the edge of her metal folding chair_. Ow ow ow everything is sore, Toni, stop moving!_

"Is that a tattoo?" Toni paused, realizing that her shirt had ridden up. She peered at Clint, who was eyeing the side of her abdomen unashamedly from across the table. _Stupid hawk vision. At least no one asked about the reactor,_ she admitted.

"One-one-two-three?" Clint read out loud, and everyone turned to get a look at her ink. Steve was trying not to (but he was anyway), and Thor was staring in blatant curiosity.

Toni rolled her eyes and pulled up her shirt a little farther. " 13 21," she corrected.

Most of the team was looking at her in bafflement. Toni turned to her left, expectantly. Bruce cleared his throat. "It's part of the Fibonacci Sequence," he answered, amused. "Which is commonly considered in relation to the Golden Ratio because its numbers are the closest rational approximation to it. It's also been applied biologically, in phyllotaxis and the like."

"Basically it's an extraordinary phenomena of perfection," Toni summarized coolly. "And, well, so am I."

Clint sagged in his seat. "I was hoping it was a drunken mistake," he admitted. "I forgot, you're a dweeb."

Toni laughed as she pulled her shirt back down. "Of course, I do have a tattoo I got while drunk, but I don't regret it."

She pulled down her shirt over her left shoulder, and twisted around so he could see her back.

"'James'? As is _James Rhodes?_" Clint read, astonished. "How do you _not_ regret that tattoo? He's dating your former PA now."

Toni snorted. "_We_ never dated. He's my best friend."

"And you guys got matching tattoos?" Clint chortled. Beside him, Natasha looked amused as well, watching Toni.

"I lost a bet. And then a week later, he felt bad about it and got 'Antonia' tattooed on his arm. So yeah, matching tattoos." Toni shrugged. "I also have to name my firstborn after him, but I think he'll let that one slide."

"Maybe you shouldn't gamble, you don't seem very good at it," Bruce commented, picking at his food.

"I wouldn't say that," Toni argued. "I tend to beat all the odds."

"Aye, I would have to agree with that," Thor chortled, raising his mug of coffee towards her before drinking deeply. "You have slipped from the grasp of death many times, for a mortal."

Clint chuckled too. "Your house never does, though," he added, amusedly.

Toni raised her eyebrow, but it was Bruce that voiced the question. "What do you mean? Every time Toni escapes death, her house—doesn't?"

The Hawk Man shrugged. "More or less. I've been to casa de Stark more than once—"

"To spy on me, you bastard," Toni muttered.

"—there's a hole that goes through three levels of her house because she didn't land properly—"

"That was the Mark II, it wasn't perfect—" Toni protested.

Clint plowed on. "It's been plastered up, but it happened. The garage is worse," he warned.

Toni searched the table for something to throw at him. "It's a lab, not a garage—"

"She demolished a Lamborghini in there, there's a big 'X' over that parking space now. Again, it was the Mark II. This was before I met her, mind you."

She threw a wad of napkins at Clint, but he caught them without sparing her a glance. "That wasn't escaping death; that was a test run."

Clint shook his head. "Every time you use one of those contraptions, you're inviting death, Stark. Speaking of which, how about the fight between you and Colonel Rhodes at your birthday party?"

"I thought James Rhodes was your closest companion?" Thor queried.

Toni shrugged. "Friends fight all the time."

"Yes," Clint agreed sarcastically, "They wear armored suits and shoot at each other until something explodes—your pool room, in this case."

Again, Toni shrugged. "I never liked swimming anyway." Clint shot her a hard look, which she ignored cheerfully. "Clint and I later took down a few walls for an experiment, but that's the last time my house has been mutilated," she insisted.

The table was silent. Thor gazed at Toni like she was forgetting something important.

"What about the top floors of your mighty tower, Lady Stark? Were those not your quarters as well?" He asked.

Toni couldn't come up with an answer.

Bruce snorted indelicately. "At least you're a billionaire," he smiled.

Natasha hummed from the other side of the table, looking at her nails flippantly. "And a sexy genius philanthropist," she mocked.

That, Toni could take in stride. "Glad you think so, Nat, but you're not my type."

"Everyone's your type." Natasha retorted calmly.

"And I must be yours, considering how much time you spend with me in a small room," Toni quipped, grinning when Clint looked up in interest. As did Bruce, Thor and Steve.

"Stark," Romanoff cautioned.

Toni couldn't help but grin. "I really like your cherry chapstick, babe," Toni drawled, before leaping away from the table when Natasha flung a water bottle at her.

* * *

**I'm having a lot of fun with Toni's innuendos. **

**This definitely should have been in Alloy (the story these drabbles are from), but alas, I rushed through the end of The Avengers in that story, and kid of forgot about it a little. I hope enough people see this drabble, I think it adds some depth to Toni's relationship with Natasha, Clint, and the Hulk. **


End file.
